The issue I have is that all the money up for grabs comes from the punters. Yes there are corporate $ but that is because they think there is a positive cost-benefit ratio to get more money off the public.
Yet there is ZERO discussion about the average punter getting a share of the new money coming in. How about putting money back into grass roots footy, or reducing the cost of tickets/membership???
We have no say in the debate.

I'm not sure what others thought but the pre-game poem by Rupert Bacall was ignored by many in the crowd, who continued talking between themselves and generally not paying attention. I found it hard to hear the poem.
At least that's what happened at ground level in the MCC. I think the announcer contributed to it by not announcing the poem starting very prominently.

Took my 2 daughters to the clinic at Gosch's this morning, run by the whole women's Demons team. Kids loved it and all the women were great with the kids. Hung around afterwards to give all the kids a pink footy, team photo and player cards. Then signed them. My 2 now can't wait to watch tomorrow's game. Great job women's team and MFC!!!

I went to the Leighoak last week and there was probably about 50 people there watching. I some go to the Bentleigh Club as well. I've never understood why the club doesn't set up a function at one of these places for interstate games to get some extra revenue.

FWIW, Chip le Grande was on SEN this morning saying the Dank decision would be announced this arvo. He reckons he will be found guilty of all charges except the ones involving actually giving PEDs to Essendon players. Not sure the logic behind that but we will know soon it seems.

AGREED. Lets not forget that Essendon were an average team in 2011, the won 8 out then first 9 in 2012 before having a run of soft tissue injuries. Definitely trying to get an unfair advantage. We don't want sport to be won by those with the best drugs.

Wow - what an amazing quarter. Never knew that we did that back then. Few interesting things I noticed: Darren Bennett was fantastic. I don't remember him dominating like that.2 cheap after-the-play hits from the Bombers (one on Jimmy, the other on Ricky Jackson). I guess some things never change!! At least Ricky got a free and kicked the sealer with it.Bomber Thompson screwed up a critical handball to allow us to kick it into the forward line for the last goal. Sweet!Greg Anderson should have been named Richard Dean instead of Greg...

I've wondered why no-one in the media has picked up on this. Essendon were a middle-of-the-road team in 2011, then they were on top of the ladder by mid 2012 after winning I think 10 (or 11?) games in the row (good ol' Dees breaked the winning streak!). Following that, they had a string of soft tissue injuries and it all fell apart. This massive rise up the ladder coincided with the supplement program. I know psychology has a lot to do with sport, but surely the supplements helped that rise too? This is what the whole saga should be about - it's called "cheating" in my book.

I've been a long-time reader of this thread with great interest. I generally take the view that the media usually overreacts with stories - things usually aren't as good or as bad as made out. Therefore, I have been somewhat dubious about essendon being as guilty as made out in the Age. However, the last few weeks of media posturing by Essendon have made me realize they have cheated in a big way and NEED to be held to account. They know it, most of the public know it, AFL knows it and ASADA knows it. They don't want to go down without large casualties. I still find it hard to believe that Essendon are getting a relatively good ride from the media. If half of what we hear is true they should be copping it. Remember, they weren't any good in 2011, then in 2012 they won the first 10 (I think) games in a row. I re-read the AFL charge sheet from last year last night and it is scary what they did. Although messy, they need a huge penalty, as a deterrent if nothing else.